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TRENTON 



One Hundred Years Ago. 



TRENTON 



One Hundred Years Ag 



o 



BY 



WILLIAM S. STRYKER, 



ADJUTANT GENERAL OF NEW JERSEY. 



PRINTED FOR PRIVATE DISTRIBUTION. 



TRENTON, N. J. : 

MAC CBELLISU * QUIGLEY, STEAM POWER BOOK AND .Joli PRINTKKS. 



'7h 



^r^ 



Trenton One Hundred Years Ago. 



The following sketch of Trenton in the years 1776-77, is pre- 
pared from the statements of a few of our citizens who readily 
recall the men who lived here in those eventful years, from a 
very close search among land records, from Dr. Hall's " History 
of the Presbyterian Church, Trenton," from Mr. John 0. Raum's 
" History of the City of Trenton," and other notes furnished by 
him, from newspapers published in Philadelphia about that 
time, the Packet, Journal, Ledger and Gazette, from maps obtained 
from offices of record in this State, and Hessian maps from 
Cassel. I am greatly indebted to the late Dr. James B. Cole- 
man, Mr. John R. Dill, Mr. John S. McCully, Judge William 
S. Yard, Mr. Benjamin Fish and the late Jasper S. Scudder. 

In the beginning of the eighteenth century the land whereon 
Trenton is built appears to have been mostly Mahlon Stacy's 
tract, bounded by Heath's land, Petty's plantation and the 
Beakes property. 

In 1712, William Yard bought of Mahlon Stacy the property 
now on Greene street, south of State street to Washington street, 
and in depth one-half the present squares, in all about two acres. 
In 1714, he purchased of Andrew Heath one hundred acres, 
adjoining the Beakes estate, on what is now called Brunswick 
avenue. 

In the same year, 1714, William Trent, a Philadelphia mer- 
chant, purchased a considerable tract of land here, and a village 
was commenced, called after him, Trent's-town. 

The land east of what is now Greene street and south of Front 
street, was called Littloworth. All the ground south of Front 



4 TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

street and west of Greene street to the creek and the river, was 
called " the meadows," and was low and swampy. The land 
lying on each side of the road to Bordentown, south of the 
creek, was then called Littleboro, also Kingsbury, the farm west 
of that road Bloomsbur}-, and the village along the shore below 
Bloomsbury farm called Lamberton, after Thomas Lambert, 
whose tombstone is now to be seen in Riverview Cemetery. 

Trenton, north of the creek, from the writings of Elkanah 
Watson, who was here several days in 1777, contained about 
seventy houses. I think there were about thirty dwellings 
south of the creek. The most of the houses were situated on 
two principal streets, called King, now Warren, and Queen, now 
Greene streets. These two streets, running nearly parallel and 
almost north and south, united at the upper end of the village, 
from which point the roads diverged to Pennington and to 
Maidenhead, now Lawrenceville. The latter road is now called 
Brunswick avenue. There were two other important streets in 
Trenton; one. Front street, began at Queen street, passed 
through the lower end of King street, and thence turned north- 
ward on what is now Willow street to the River Road; the 
other, running parallel to Front street, called Second, now State 
street, began on what is now the corner of State and Willow 
streets, crossed both King and Queen streets, and after passing 
the Presbyterian Church dwindled into a country road leading 
through an apple orchard to Henry's iron foundry and steel 
works on the creek. The Assunpink creek, a small stream ford- 
able at many places, ran along the easterly and southerly line 
of the town, and emj)tied by two outlets into the Delaware 
river. Betty's run, passing through the village in about the 
channel it is at present, instead of flowing direct into the river, 
made a sudden turn to, the left, and passing along near where 
the bed of the Water Power is, entered the Assunpink a few 
yards from the mouth of the creek. King street did not extend 



TKENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS A(!0. O 

below Front street, but Queen street crossed the creek by a long 
and narrow bridge. The present Hanover street, cast of Queen 
street, was called Third street, and that part between King and 
Queen streets, which was much less than one-half its present 
size, was called Pinkerton's alley. The street now known as 
Academy was called Fourth street, but was little more than a 
lane. Perry street did not exist. There was another alley 
between King and Queen streets, just north of the English 
Church, called Church alley. Dark lane commenced on Queen 
street, running easterly, about on the line of the present Feeder. 
There was an alley running west from King street, near where 
West Hanover street is, and this led off into the River Road. 
It was called DeCow's alley. The River Road commenced from 
Front street, passed Second street, curved to the left nearly into 
what is now Quarry street and the bed of the Feeder, and after 
several turns came into what is now State street, about in front 
of the present residence of Mr. Montgomery. Queen street, 
crossing the creek, became the road to Bordentown and Cross- 
wicks. A wagon road leading down what is now Market street 
to the Bloomsbury farm house, now the residence of Mr. E. H. 
Stokes, turned there and led to the ferry. The Ferry road 
started from what is now called the Eagle Hotel to the Trenton 
landing on the river Delaware. 

On the Brunswick road Ave find the first house on the westerly 
side of the road occupied by William Cain, and the next was 
the Fox Chase Tavern, owned by Cain, whose widow afterward 
married Joseph Bond. She managed the estal)lishment. Some 
distance further on was a slianty owned by an old colored man 
and beyond it the house of Thomas Selvidge. Tlierc was a lane 
from the junction of King and Queen streets northward, on what 
is now called Princeton avenue. This lane led to the house and 
stable of the Beakes estate. The first house on the left side of 
the Pennington road was that of Dr. David Cowell, a bachelor, 



6 TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

an eminent physician and surgeon, and his brother, Ebenezcr 
Cowell, a lawyer, lived with him. Some distance beyond, on 
the opposite side, Richard W. Furman resided. Opposite to 
what is now Calhoun street, Alexander Calhoun lived and kept 
a store for general merchandise, and a dwelling house and 
property next to him belonged to John Chambers. Abraham 
Cottnam lived a short distance above Calhoun, on the other side 
of the road. He died there in 1776, and his sons, George and 
Warrell, the latter a lawyer, lived there until 1779, when they 
sold the house to Colonel David Brearley, afterward Chief Jus- 
tice of the State, who had married their sister. Richard Howell 
and his son, Arthur Howell, both coopers, lived just beyond, on 
the north side of the roadway. Mr. Howell's house was the 
alarm house and picket post of the Hessian troops in December, 
1776. On the outskirts of the village, on the right side of the 
road, but some distance from it, Nathaniel Furman lived on the 
place now occupied by Mr. Israel Hendrickson. A lane led 
from opposite Alexander Calhoun's house, down what is now 
Calhoun street, crossed the River Road about at the Feeder 
bridge, and ended at Beatty's ferry at the head of the falls, on 
the river just back of the present residence of Dr. Pearson. This 
was undoubtedly a road much used during the last century. 

Starting down King street on the westerly side we find first 
Isaac Brearley, then Samuel Tucker, who was President of the 
Provincial Congress of New Jersey in 1775, Justice of the 
Supreme Court in 1776, and took protection from the British 
while Treasurer of the State for the purpose of preserving public 
funds and private trusts, then in his possession. Josiah Apple- 
ton lived next, then Samuel Bellerjeau and Jacob Benjamin. 
Charles Axford lived about where the Feeder now crosses the 
street, and it was near his door that two of the Hessian cannon 
were captured. Next to Mr. Axford, Polly Brown kept a little 
shop where she sold spirits. Stacy Potts' commodious frame 



TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 7 

house was opposite what is now Perry street. This was the 
headquarters of Colonel Rail, tlie Plessian coniniandi'r, and tlie 
plaee where lie died after the battle. An alley above Staey 
Potts' house led to his tan-yard, a large traet through which 
Pctty's run flowed, the yard eontaining, as advertised, " sixty- 
four fats." Miss Rebecca Coxe lived south of Mr. Potts, opposite 
the English, now St. Miehael's, Church. It will be remembered 
that it is related as an incident of the fight that a little daughter 
of Mr. Potts, then in Miss Coxe's house, was slightly injured 
while trying to reach her father's house. Mrs. Hill lived below 
and sold " refreshments," and then James Wilson, the silver- 
smith, had a little shop where he worked at his trade. Under 
the same roof was the shop of John Fitch, then a gunsmith and 
maker of buttons for the American arm}^ He was at one time 
apprenticed to Wilson, and afterward Wilson worked for Fitch 
when he had a large order for repairing arms, and employed, it 
is said, sixty men in the business. Fitch's shop was burned by 
the British. He went to Pennsylvania and afterward became 
the successful steamboat inventor. Thomas, Mary and Sarah 
Barnes lived on the ground now occupied by the Third Presby- 
terian Church. Mr. Barnes was a druggist, and his advertise- 
ment of salves, ointments, &c., appears in Isaac Collins' Trenton 
Gazette. Isaac DeCow lived on the north side of DeCow's alley. 
Colonel Isaac Smith, who commanded the regiment of militia 
in and aljout Trenton, and who was the first President of the 
Trenton Banking Company, a physician by profession, and at 
■one time a Judge of the Supreme Court, lived where the American 
Hotel now stands. He was a man of great integrity and patri- 
otism, and was a friend of Washington. He is always described 
as a very corpulent man. James B. Machett's house was oppo- 
site Pinkcrton's alley. Joseph Brittain, the shoemaker, lived 
where the United States Hotel is, and some think Mrs. Brittain 
kept a public house there. The celebrated Dr. Nicholas Belle- 



8 TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

ville, Avhcn he settled in Trenton, in 1778, and became a partner 
of Dr. Bryant, boarded at the house of Mrs. Brittain. Joseph 
Higbee's house was the next on that street, and on tlie north- 
west corner of King and Second streets was the store and 
residence of Abraham Hunt, the ricli merchant. In his parlor 
he entertained Colonel Kail on the night of December 25th, 1776, 
and the following morning still found Rail enjoying his Christ- 
mas hospitality. On the southwest corner, where the Mechanics 
Bank now stands, Francis Witt kept the Blazing Star Tavern. 
It is evident Governor Livingston lived at this house during his 
residence in Trenton. It was afterward occupied by Samuel 
Henry, who owned the iron works, which he built in 1769, near 
where State street now crosses the Assunpink. Witt left the 
tavern in 1777, and engaged in the auction business. Archibald 
William Yard owned all the rest of the property to Front street, 
and lived in the middle of the block. Conrad Kotts occupied a 
little house just below Mr. Yard, 1)ut surrounded l;)y property 
owned by the latter gentleman. On the opposite side of Front 
street lived Daniel Yard, who was an assistant to Major Peter 
Gordon in the Quarter INIaster's Department. 

Beginning again at the upper part of King street and easterly 
side we find John Chambers lived in the house a portion 
of which is now the Children's Home. William Tindall lived 
below him, and this house, on the digging of the Feeder, was 
removed to the opposite side of the street, and is now the second 
house north of the Feeder. William Smith, a young man of 
about twenty-two j^ears of age, had a house just below Mr. 
Tindall. Two soldiers of the Jersey Continental Line, John 
Harden and Jacob Keen, were the next residents of this street. 
Mr. Keen was not at home on the day of the liattle, being with 
the Jersey troops at Morristown. Mrs. Keen was a very zealous 
Baptist, was one of the organizers of that church in this city, 
and was often called Deacon Keen. Mary and Sarah Smith 



TRENTON ONK HUNDKKD YEARS ACO. V 

occiii)ied a small dwellinji; between Mr. Harden and Mr. Keen. 
William Patterson lived next to Keen, and Jolui Plaskett and 
Richard Norris, a maker of stays, lived in the double house just 
above Petty's Run. Mr. Pontius Delare Stille lived in the house 
still standing on southeast corner of Perry street. Crossing 
Church alley we find the English Church, now St. Michael's 
Episcopal Church. This was used as a barracks by Colonel 
Rail's grenadier regiment. Aaron Howell's blacksmith shop 
and his house, where Ellet Howell, who was in the Quarter 
Master's Department, also lived, adjoined the church. Sheriff 
Micajah How, of Hunterdon county, lived in what is known as 
the Leake property, lately torn down. George Ely's house was 
next to How's, then Doctor Woolsey's house and office, and next to 
him David Pinkerton kept a general store on the corner of the 
alley called by his name. There was a building where the Tren- 
ton House now stands, but its owner is unknown ; George Abliott, 
afterward occupied it. Job Moore lived adjoining, and Abra- 
ham G. Claypoole's house and his office as Justice of the Peace 
was on the northeast corner of King and Second streets. The 
Post Office Avas on the corner below, Abraham Hunt being the 
Deputy Postmaster. The stone building now the Trenton Bank, 
was the gaol, and Peter Hulick the gaoler. A shot struck this 
building on the evening of January 2d, 1777. Abraham Hunt 
had a storehouse on the northeast corner of King and Front 
streets, but it is thought to have been built in somewhat later 
years. 

Turning now to Queen street, westerly side, we find a little 
house occupied by an old colored man just back of William 
Tindall's house on King street just mentioned. William Smith, 
on King street, owned back of his own property to Queen street, 
and James Linn all tlie ground south of Smith's line to Petty's 
Run. Midway between Church alley and Pinkerton's alley 
John Yard resided, and Benjamin Smith lived and kept a gro- 



10 TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

eery and variety store on the corner below. A man by the 
name of Downing lived on the southwest corner of Pinkerton's 
alley, Joseph Vandergrift in the middle of the square, and 
Joseph Milnor on what is now the State Gazette corner. William 
Tucker and Ellet Tucker lived on the southwest corner of Queen 
and Second streets, and this house was being plastered at the 
time of the cannonade of the second of January. They were 
both hatters and their shop was the next frame building below 
the corner. Joshua Newbold's blacksmith shop was on that 
block, and the Black Horse tavern on the Front street corner. 
This tavern was kept by Robert Rutherford, whose daughter, 
Frances Mary, eloped some six years previous with Colonel 
Fortescue, a British officer. Captain John Barnes lived in the 
old stone house, torn down lately, just below Washington 
Market. General Washington spent the night of Dec. 29, 1776, 
in this dwelling. 

On Queen street, at what is now the northeast corner of Acad- 
emy and Greene streets, the log church of the Methodists was 
situated. This was built in 1772 and remained there twenty 
years. Robert Lindsay and John Cooper were assigned to this 
circuit in May, 1776. Mr. Bonnel lived just north of the church 
and below it lived Joseph and Samuel Laning, with their black- 
smith shop next door. Thomas Tindall built a house of brick 
and placed its date of erection, 1740, in black brick on its front, 
on the northeast corner of Queen and Third streets. An old 
frame stable and the house of John Bellerjeau were in the mid- 
dle of the next block, and Polly Hopkins owned the present 
City Hall corner. There was a building on the corner below, in 
after years occupied by Isaac Collins, printer of the Trenton 
Gazette. Thomas Ryall and Joshua Newbold lived opposite 
Newbold's shoj), before mentioned. 

I do not find that Pinkerton's alley contained any houses 
other than those on the several corners. Aaron D. Woodruti" 



TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 11 

nearly twenty years afterward and I'or the term of twenty-four 
years held the oflice of Attorney-General of the State. He lived 
on Third street, next to Mr. Tindall's. The Rev. Dr. Elihu 
Spencer, and after him the Rev. James F. Armstrong, resided in 
the Presbyterian parsonage on Third street, just east of Mr. 
^^'oodruff's house. There was a stable by the parsonage which 
was destroyed by the Hessians. The parsonage was also used 
by them as a hospital, and much damaged. Stephen LoAvrey, 
who lived at Dr. Spencer's, was Commissary of Issues in the 
Commissary General's Department. The Friends' Meeting 
House, at the end of the street, is still standing, although much 
modernized in appearance. It was built in 1739. Nearly oppo- 
site it lived Major Schuyler, a well-known colored man. Beyond 
the street commenced the orchard where the Hessians retreated 
after the surprise on the morning of December 26th, and where 
they at last surrendered. 

John Rickey had a house and hardware store about where 
Chief Justice Beasley now resides. It was a double one-story 
hipped-roof stone building, and built in 1752. The village 
school house was where the Presbyterian Church stands, and 
the church itself was quite near what is now the City Hall lot. 
Polly Yard lived on the south side of Second street, west of 
William Tucker's. William Roscoe, an express rider for Gov- 
ernor Livingston, lived in a little one-story building. The Bull's 
Head Tavern, kept by Henry Drake, was the largest building 
on the block, then Sylvester Doyle's house and the Post Office 
before mentioned. Moore Furman, Deputy Quarter ]\raster 
General of the State, had an office and resided where the State 
Street House is located. The alley opposite, now Sterling's 
alley, was called Hunt's alley, Abraham Hunt's stable being on 
the westerly corner. Polly Hawkins lived in a small house on 
this alley. Mr. Davies lived just west of the stable on Second 
street, in what was afterward called the Pike house. Major 



12 TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 

Peter Gordon, of the Quarter Master General's Dej^artment, for 
many years State Treasurer, lived nearly opposite, and Alex- 
ander Chambers' residence was next door and his store on the 
corner of the River Road. Squire Benjamin Yard lived on the 
oj)posite corner. A lane half the width of Second street led 
westerly as tar only as the stone house, in after years, 1793 and 
'94, General Knox's war office. I have failed to find who owned 
it in 1776. Out on the River Road, a property now owned by 
Mr. Richcy, Sir John Sinclair lived on "his elegant seat called 
Bellvillc," and General Philemon Dickinson owned "the Her- 
mitage," a portion of which now forms the residence of Mr. 
Atterbury. This was the Yager picket jDOst on that road. Gen- 
eral Dickinson purchased this place July 30, 177G. It may be 
noted that this investment took place between the Declaration 
of Independence and the battle of Trenton, and it shows his 
confidence in the patriotism of the country, when he placed 
funds in a property which la}^ on the highway between two 
great cities, objective points for British attack. Captain John 
Mott, of the Jersey Continental troops, and guide to the Ameri- 
can army at the battle of Trenton, lived some distance out of 
the town on pro^Derty now attached to the Lunatic Asylum. 
The AVidows' Home, on Front street, was then joined with the 
stone house on the opposite side of the street, and this made 
the barracks, erected in 1756, during the French and Indian 
war, intended to hold "about three hundred men," and used at 
the period of which we speak to hold refugees and soldiers of 
Knyphausen's regiment. Stacy Potts, in 1776, built a steel 
works just back of the barracks on Betty's run, and Dr. Daniel 
W. Coxe erected a stone building for a paper mill, in 1756, near 
the outlet of Petty's run into the Assunpink creek. 

On the northerl}" side of Front street, between King and 
Queen streets, was a small tavern called Ship and Castle, and 
then Samuel W. Stockton's residence near the Black Horse 



TRENTON ONE HUNDRED YEARS AOO. 18 

Tavern on the corner. JNIr. Stockton was then a young man, 
but afterward became quite prominent in official life. Between 
his house and the tavern, off of the line of the street, was the 
village market. Mrs. Yard lived on the south side of Front 
street, and there was also a building near her house used as 
Yard's bakery. 

Crossing the Queen street bridge, on the east side Avas the site 
of Mahlon Stacy's Hour mill, built hi 1680, of hewn logs, and 
one and one-half stories high. In 1690 William Trent pur- 
chased the property and built a stone mill there two stories 
high. George Bright had a two-story stone building next to the 
mill, which he used as a bakery. On a rough, blue sandstone, 
imbedded in the Avail, was cut, "G. B., 1756." This stone w^as 
afterward placed in the front wall of the paper mill of Harry 
McCall. Mr. Bright lived on the west side of the road, opposite 
his bakery. Next to the bakery was .Jonathan Richmond's 
tavern, the headquarters of General Washington for the first 
two days of the year 1777, but which he was obliged to abandon 
on the afternoon of January 2d. Samuel Wooley lived on the 
Avesterly side and Captain Alexander Douglass in what Avas so 
long known as the Douglass house, Cjeneral St. Clair's head- 
quarters, lately torn down. Jacob GarAvood lived on the east- 
erly side nearl}" opposite the lane leading to the Bloomsbury 
farm, the residence of John Cox. Miss ]\Iary DagAvorthy, Avho 
Avas so active in aiding the sick and Avounded soldiers, and Avho 
streAved floAA'ers afterAvard on Washington's pathAvay at the 
bridge, lived and taught school Avhere the Eagle Hotel noAV 
stands. Robert Pearson lived a short distance south of the 
entrance to the Ferry road. 

Doctor Daniel W. Coxe, the counselor and friend of the Eng- 
lish army, lived on the corner of the Avagon road leading from 
Bloomsbury farm to the Ferry road. Opposite his house Avas a 
fort, built during the French and Indian Avar, and just beyond 



14 TIIKNTON ONK lIlINDIiKI) YKAHS AdO. 

It KenHHcliicr Willi:irriH' tavern. ()[)fK)sitf; tlic tavern vvmb tho 
saddlery of Mr. I'.. Stnitli. 

I'elow Trenton Landing, in Lainherton, 1 note tlie house of 
('ai>t. .lolin Ciuini, a marincir, in tli(; hous(' now occupied by 
JiuneH Wooley, also Ihigli Rnnyon, a druggist, Ju})ez Ashmore, 
Williatn I'ieliai'ds, a slorekeepei, William Douglass and Abraham 
Wagluui. 

'I'liere are a, (evv others who resided in Trenton, I have reason 
to think, id tJiis period, hut, whose residences cannot now l»e 
axseuraiely determined. 7\mong these are Charles (!lunn, Wil- 
liam I'idgeon, Michael Thorn, Daniel IIowcll, Williani Clayton 
and Micliael Clunn. During the war, although I believe at the 
latter part of it, .lames Ihn'uside had a bookstore, and John 
Singer a dry goods store in the village. Robert Hoops lived, if 
not in Trenton, still near the town. Dr. William Bryant, the 
eminent physician, lived south of the Assunpink creek. Prob- 
ably most, il" not all those just nanuMl, lived in the same 
locality. 

T trust this article, the result of notes taken at various times 
during many years, may interest the people of this historic city 
in the men who lived iiere one hundred years ago. 

WILLIAM S. STRYKER, 
(Adj^Umit General of New Jermy). 



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